MSI GTX 275 Lightning Shatters World Records on LN2

Overclocking/OC-Team.be by massman @ 2009-12-21

Once in a while, a high-end video card lands on my test table; in most cases just to overclock on air cooling without even the most simple voltage modifications. This time however we put the card under LN2 and found out this is a golden sample within the Lightning series. Is it the fastest running NVIDIA GPU ever?

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Test setup and Pictures

Test setup



Massman's 3D on LN2 setup
Madshrimps (c)
CPU Intel Core i7 950
Cooling
  • KingpinCooling Dragon F1 Extreme
  • KingpinCooling Tek9 3.0
  • MainboardAsus Rampage II Extreme
    VideocardMSI GTX275 Lightning
    Memory 3 x 2GB OCZ Gold PC3 12800 8-8-8 1.65V
    Storage Western Digital 250GB
    PSU Enermax Revolution 85+ 1050W


    Pictures

    Madshrimps (c)


    The front of the card was insulated using rubber gum. We used the stock cooling for the memory and pwm installed because it makes the whole card more stable (physically) and lowers the heat transfer from GPU to the memory.

    Madshrimps (c)


    The back was insulated using the same rubber gum.

    Madshrimps (c)


    Setup after an hour of testing.

    Madshrimps (c)


    The longer the session lasts, the more ice is formed on the GPU cooling. On the background, you can read-out the voltage during 3D load.

    Madshrimps (c)


    The ice is spreading!

    Madshrimps (c)


    Session finished ... the ice spread all the way to the left of the card, but never formed an issue during the overclocking session.

    Madshrimps (c)


    PWM has no ice on it. The insulation was perfect.
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    Comment from piotke @ 2009/12/21
    Very nice results.
    Comment from jmke @ 2009/12/21
    nice is an understatement. This picture sums up the awesomeness the best:



    stock 650Mhz
    Comment from Massman @ 2009/12/21
    Cool. So it is 100% oc?
    Comment from jmke @ 2009/12/21
    depends on how you look at it; NVIDIA "reference" dictates 650Mhz GPU; MSI version comes with pre-OC at 700Mhz. So "stock" it's not quite 100% OC, but compared to reference, it surpasses 100% OC; which is quite rare for VGA cards. Mostly only a few low end cards achieve this (7300 GT, 2400 XT etc), almost never higher end. (edit: had to add almost)
    Comment from Massman @ 2009/12/21
    If I can run 1400/1435 again in combination with a 5.1GHz cpu ... 21k should be possible!
    Comment from leeghoofd @ 2009/12/21
    time to order that UD7 mobo for a review
    Comment from geoffrey @ 2009/12/21
    Out of the box overclocking aint THAT great though considering it comes with voltage mods and an aftermarket cooler.
    Comment from Massman @ 2009/12/21
    MSI actually also confirms this: on air cooling it's not an insane card, but it has been built for extreme overclocking.
    Comment from geoffrey @ 2009/12/21
    Hence it is more an collectors item then anything else
    Comment from Massman @ 2009/12/21
    It's not really a collectors item as it's actually wide-spread being sold in retail stores. The Asus MARS was a collectors item ... the Lightning series is for the enthousiasts
    Comment from jmke @ 2009/12/21
    what G means is that's OC potential is not worth it, if it only does it for very short time on extreme cooling
    Comment from Massman @ 2009/12/21
    OC potential is hardly ever worth it
    Comment from jmke @ 2009/12/22
    Au contraire, plenty of products from the past were OC worthy on air, surpassing more expensive editions
    Comment from Massman @ 2009/12/22
    ... on high-end products.

    I've yet to see any factory-overclocked high-end card that gives any real advantage. In low-end segment, of course there's an advantage in overclocking ... probably because low-end is just crippled high-end.
    Comment from jmke @ 2009/12/22
    we're basically saying the same thing
    Comment from Massman @ 2009/12/22
    Yes, I am agreeing
    Comment from jmke @ 2009/12/22
    we should print this thread out and put it in a frame, this kind of thing doesn't occur very often

     

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